Working at the Hubrecht Institute

The Hubrecht Institute welcomes scientists of all backgrounds and nationalities, offering a very diverse environment. We get to know our colleagues’ work through weekly lab meetings (within the team) and weekly Hubrecht seminars (institute-wide). The institute organizes “borrels” (Dutch for after-work chats/drinks/snacks) every Friday as well as festive events throughout the year: a summer barbecue, winter party and yearly retreat. They are a good way to have fun and get to know your colleagues better!

Employees can make their voice heard through committees that represent various groups (such as the PhD, postdoc, or technician committees) or shared interests; for instance, the IDEAS committee (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Social safety) focuses on improving diversity and inclusion in the institute, while the Green Team works on ways to reduce our carbon footprint.

To improve mental well-being, the institute grants access to confidentiality advisors and to OpenUp, an organization that provides support from psychologists. A quiet room is available to employees who wish to work in a quiet environment.

The IDEAS committee (particularly the “Women and parents” subcommittee) is working at making the institute more supportive of parents in science; for example, no seminar are scheduled after 17.00, a lactation room is available, and the institute provides free period supplies for employees.

The more than 60 postdocs at the Hubrecht Institute are informally organized through the postdoc committee with close connections to the Career Development Committee (CDC). In turn, the CDC has close ties to the Knowledge Transfer Office of the KNAW. The CDC relays information about seminars and workshops that are useful for postdocs during and after their academic career. The postdoc committee itself organizes “Life after Postdoc” sessions to prepare the postdocs for the next step in their career in academia, education, industry or elsewhere. Senior postdocs have access to the academic leadership workshop that is organized regularly at the Hubrecht by EMBL. A postdoc fellowship grant committee, consisting of Hubrecht group leaders, provides support to postdocs in writing applications and by practicing grant interviews.

Currently, there are more than 70 PhD students at the Hubrecht Institute. Most of these PhD students are affiliated with the Cancer, Stem Cells and Developmental Biology (CS&D, www.csnd.nl)) PhD program of the Utrecht University Graduate School of Life Sciences (GSLS). As such, they can attend the complete range of courses organized by the PhD Course Centre. In addition, the CS&D program organizes a yearly masterclass with international speakers and a yearly retreat in which PhD students present their research to each other. At the start of their PhD, the PhD students draft a Training & Supervision Agreement (TSA). The TSA functions as a contract that ensures proper supervision, training and education during the PhD trajectory. This includes yearly meetings with a supervisory committee, which includes 2-4 independent researchers.

The PhD students at the Hubrecht Institute form a lively community with a PhD committee that addresses issues that involve all PhD students. In general, PhD students form a group of young professionals with a high workload and concomitant potential for high stress levels and high risk of burn-out. This is recognized (inter)nationally and at the Hubrecht Institute, an approach to mitigate this problem includes a buddy system in which first year PhD students are coupled to third- or fourth-year PhD students to exchange experiences. Besides this, PhD students have yearly feedback meetings with their supervisory committee to discuss scientific progress and potential issues.

The Hubrecht Institute provides internships to MSc students of universities and to BSc students of the universities for applied sciences (Hogescholen). All students with an interest in developmental biology and stem cell research are welcome. Interested students should contact the group leader of their preferred research group. The Hubrecht Institute has also recently established the Hubrecht Talent Program (HTP) with the goal to support underrepresented groups of students within the Netherlands in pursuing a career in scientific research.

Once you become an employee, the institute will advise and support you in dealing with certain issues that you may encounter. We will also provide you with additional information once you become an employee. You can already use the following websites to orient yourself:

https://www.iamexpat.nl/
https://www.expatica.com/nl/
https://grenzinfo.eu/en/

Visas, residence permits and work permits

As a Non-EU national you will need (depending on the duration of your stay) a visa, a residence permit or both. Our Immigration Officer at the Hubrecht HR department will file or assist you with this. A legalized birth- and marriage certificate might be required.

Scientific positions are exempted of requiring a work permit!

Income tax – 30-%-rule

If you are moving to the Netherlands from abroad to work at the Hubrecht Institute, you may be eligible to apply for the 30-%-rule. This means that you would get 30 % of your salary untaxed for a certain number of years. The institute helps you with the application for this.

Basic medical care

As a resident or employee in the Netherlands, you are obliged to take out a Dutch public healthcare insurance.

Being a parent in the Netherlands

Pregnancy leave
Employees have the right to a total of 16 weeks of pregnancy and maternity leave. Pregnancy leave starts 6 to 4 weeks before the expected date of birth. If you choose to start the pregnancy leave 6 weeks before the baby is due, you have a total of 10 weeks of maternity leave (16-6=10). If you choose to start your pregnancy leave 4 weeks before the baby is due, you have a total of 12 weeks of maternity leave (16-4=12). If you mention this, which I don’t

Child benefit
The Dutch social security system pays an allowance to help cover the cost of raising a child. If you fall under the Dutch social security scheme, you have a right to receive this allowance.

See: Child benefit Home | Child benefit | SVB on information about child benefit.

Pre-school daycare
There are several options open to you for pre-school daycare. The Dutch term for daycare is ‘kinderopvang’, which covers options such as host parents, daycare facilities and nursery schools.

Please note that the demand for daycare facilities is high, and that it is not unusual to encounter waiting lists of several months for certain facilities. Be prepared to spend a large amount of time searching for a suitable daycare facility and making the necessary arrangements, especially if you need to rely on daycare facilities.

Almost every working parent in the Netherlands is eligible for financial support from the Dutch Government to help with the cost of childcare.

School
In the Netherlands, it is mandatory for children to attend school from 5 to 16 years old. They first go to a primary school (group 1-8) and then continue at a school for secondary education.

Please see the website of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science for more information about the Dutch education system: Ministry of Education, Culture and Science | Government.nl

If you prefer international education for your child, there are several options in and around Utrecht to choose from: ISU Homepage (isutrecht.nl)